Influence And Reception Of Mei Lanfang And Peking Opera In Japan

One hundred years ago, a young man, Mei Lanfang, who later became the most outstanding Peking Opera artist in China, rose to fame in Beijing and Shanghai. He not only enjoyed large numbers of audience in China, but also brought the Peking Opera to the world by performing in Japan, America. and the former Soviet Union. He performed in Japan in1919,1924and1956, all three times.The content of the thesis will be centered on the influence of Mei Lanfang’s performance in Japan. Materials like news and comments about Mei Lanfang’s trip to Japan from Japanese newspapers are used to analyze how Japanese audience took in the Peking Opera and Mei Lanfang’s performances. The article will also research into the contrast between the images of Chinese culture and that of China in Japanese eyes. The study of this thesis is based on the view of comparative literature in images and reception.The article consists of three chapters. Chapter I focuses on the contributions Mei Lanfang made to the development of Peking Opera. Chapter I is also about the details of Mei Lanfang’s trip to Japan. Chapter II expounds the image of Mei Lanfang by analyzing the comments from Japanese audience. Chapter III mainly analyzes the Mei Lanfang’s image and will take Royal Pavilion (Yubeiting), a traditional Peking Opera, as an example to see how Japanese audience react to Peking Opera Chapter III will also interpret the complex feelings of Japanese when they faced the Chinese culture and China at that time.